Rare has a reason to rejoice this week, as Sea of Thieves has sailed to a number one spot on the sales chart in the UK. The studio has only done this twice before, with Rare Replay (2015) and Banjo-Kazooie (1998). There are no specifics on how many titles have been sold, although this is a good indicator that the multiplayer pirate sim has enjoyed a strong start.
It’s going to need it, though. Sharp criticism has emerged from both players and even one past artist on the project of the game’s shallow repetition and meager content offerings.
Former Sea of Thieves artist Rob Beddall said that warning signs were popping up years ago internally, but Rare did not address them: “A lot of internal people voiced their concerns that the game was insanely repetitive and shallow. This was about a year a go before I left. I guess nothing has changed.”
“All I can say is that the plans and ideas for the game were bigger than what was released but there were never any solid plans on extra game mechanics,” he shared with the community. “The original idea was that it was a buddy adventure. Like the kids movies the devs grew up with. Where four friends or so would be pulled out of their ordinary life and go on some wild adventure.”
Sea of Thieves has a 71% on Metacritic right now with users rating it at an average of 5.5.
